To make the Heart Tender (Ar-Riqaq)
كتاب الرقاق
Chapter 1: Health and leisure
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "There are two blessings that many people are deceived into losing: health and free time."
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "O Allah! There is no life worth living except the life of the Hereafter, so (please) make righteous the Ansar and the Emigrants."
We were in the company of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in (the battle of) Al-Khandaq, and he was digging the trench while we were carrying the earth away. He looked at us and said, "O Allah! There is no life worth living except the life of the Hereafter, so (please) forgive the Ansar and the Emigrants."
Chapter 2: The example of this world in contrast with the Hereafter
I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "A (small) place equal to an area occupied by a whip in Paradise is better than the (whole) world and whatever is in it; and an undertaking (journey) in the forenoon or in the afternoon for Allah's Cause, is better than the whole world and whatever is in it."
Chapter 3: "Be in this world as if you were a stranger."
`Abdullah bin `Umar said, "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took hold of my shoulder and said, 'Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a traveler." The sub-narrator added: Ibn `Umar used to say, "If you survive till the evening, do not expect to be alive in the morning, and if you survive till the morning, do not expect to be alive in the evening, and take from your health for your sickness, and (take) from your life for your death."
Chapter 4: About hope and hoping too much
The Prophet (ﷺ) drew a square and then drew a line in the middle of it and let it extend outside the square and then drew several small lines attached to that central line, and said, "This is the human being, and this, (the square) in his lease of life, encircles him from all sides (or has encircled him), and this (line), which is outside (the square), is his hope, and these small lines are the calamities and troubles (which may befall him), and if one misses him, an-other will snap (i.e. overtake) him, and if the other misses him, a third will snap (i.e. overtake) him."
The Prophet (ﷺ) drew a few lines and said, "This is (man's) hope, and this is the instant of his death, and while he is in this state (of hope), the nearer line (death) comes to Him."
Chapter 5: If somebody reaches sixty years of age, he has no right to ask Allah for a new lease of life.
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah will not accept the excuse of any person whose instant of death is delayed till he is sixty years of age."
I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) saying, "The heart of an old man remains young in two respects, i.e., his love for the world (its wealth, amusements and luxuries) and his incessant hope."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The son of Adam (i.e. man) grows old and so also two (desires) grow old with him, i.e., love for wealth and (a wish for) a long life."
Chapter 6: The deed which is done seeking Allah's Countenance
I remember that the Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took water from a bucket (which was in our home used for getting water out of well) with his mouth (and threw it on my face).
who was one of the men of the tribe of Bani Salim: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to me and said, "If anybody comes on the Day of Resurrection who has said: La ilaha illal-lah, sincerely, with the intention to win Allah's Pleasure, Allah will make the Hell-Fire forbidden for him."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Allah says, 'I have nothing to give but Paradise as a reward to my believer slave, who, if I cause his dear friend (or relative) to die, remains patient (and hopes for Allah's Reward).
Chapter 7: The warning regarding worldly pleasures, amusements and competing against each other
(An ally of the tribe of Bani 'Amir bin Lu'ai and one of those who had witnessed the battle of Badr with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)) Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) sent Abu 'Ubaida bin AlJarrah to Bahrain to collect the Jizya tax. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had concluded a peace treaty with the people of Bahrain and appointed Al 'Ala bin Al-Hadrami as their chief; Abu Ubaida arrived from Bahrain with the money. The Ansar heard of Abu 'Ubaida's arrival which coincided with the Fajr (morning) prayer led by Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). When the Prophet (ﷺ) finished the prayer, they came to him. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) smiled when he saw them and said, "I think you have heard of the arrival of Abu 'Ubaida and that he has brought something." They replied, "Yes, O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! " He said, "Have the good news, and hope for what will please you. By Allah, I am not afraid that you will become poor, but I am afraid that worldly wealth will be given to you in abundance as it was given to those (nations) before you, and you will start competing each other for it as the previous nations competed for it, and then it will divert you (from good) as it diverted them." '
The Prophet (ﷺ) went out and offered the funeral prayer for the martyrs of the (battle of) Uhud and then ascended the pulpit and said, "I am your predecessor and I am a witness against you. By Allah, I am now looking at my Tank-lake (Al-Kauthar) and I have been given the keys of the treasures of the earth (or the keys of the earth). By Allah! I am not afraid that after me you will worship others besides Allah, but I am afraid that you will start competing for (the pleasures of) this world."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The thing I am afraid of most for your sake, is the worldly blessings which Allah will bring forth to you." It was said, "What are the blessings of this world?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The pleasures of the world." A man said, "Can the good bring forth evil?" The Prophet (ﷺ) kept quiet for a while till we thought that he was being inspired divinely. Then he started removing the sweat from his forehead and said," Where is the questioner?" That man said, "I (am present)." Abu Sa`id added: We thanked the man when the result (of his question) was such. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Good never brings forth but good. This wealth (of the world) is (like) green and sweet (fruit), and all the vegetation which grows on the bank of a stream either kills or nearly kills the animal that eats too much of it, except the animal that eats the Khadira (a kind of vegetation). Such an animal eats till its stomach is full and then it faces the sun and starts ruminating and then it passes out dung and urine and goes to eat again. This worldly wealth is (like) sweet (fruit), and if a person earns it (the wealth) in a legal way and spends it properly, then it is an excellent helper, and whoever earns it in an illegal way, he will be like the one who eats but is never satisfied."
`Imran bin Husain said: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The best people are my contemporaries (i.e., the present (my) generation) and then those who come after them (i.e., the next generation)." `Imran added: I am not sure whether the Prophet (ﷺ) repeated the statement twice after his first saying. The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "And after them there will come people who will bear witness, though they will not be asked to give their witness; and they will be treacherous and nobody will trust them, and they will make vows, but will not fulfill them, and fatness will appear among them."
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation), and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness."
I heard Khabbab, who had branded his `Abdomen with seven brands, saying, "Had Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) not forbidden us to invoke Allah for death, I would have invoked Allah for death. The companions of Muhammad have left this world without taking anything of their reward in it (i.e., they will have perfect reward in the Hereafter), but we have collected of the worldly wealth what we cannot spend but on earth (i.e. on building houses).